A Gruffalo Party.

A Gruffalo? What's a Gruffalo?

A Gruffalo! Why, didn't you know?

He has knobbly knees and turned out toes and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose...

Go get the book to hear the rest of this darling story by Julia Donaldson. It originated in England and Nana Judie brought it back for the boys after her trip there a couple of years ago. It's been a favorite ever since. I love doing parties based on children's books. So easy to come up with fun and unique ideas (and by come up with ideas, of course I mean search Pinterest).

The Invitation:

I used Picmonkey.com to create these. I have zero graphic design skills let alone any software to do it in. So this is my own way around that. Copy and paste images from google onto a white background, upload that to picmonkey and add whatever writing you want in one of their adorable fonts, then print it out onto cardstock. I know I'm reinventing the wheel here. I just have no clue how to do it any other way and this is pretty darn simple. (Please share if there's some kind of free site for this sort of thing!!)

Last year was the first year Bennett had a "friends" party and I asked you guys what in the world you do when you have lots of family in town and don't necessarily want to combine the two parties. Last year we did parties on two separate weekends but that was way too much work. This year I decided to have his friends over in the afternoon, leave an hour gap and then have our family over. It worked really well. I kept the first party to an hour and a half so we weren't totally burnt out by the end of the day.

We started the first party by letting them watch The Gruffalo on DVD. It's only about 35 min. so it was perfect and kept those crazies contained and quiet for a bit :) Have you had six 6 and 7 year old boys in your house at once before without their parents nearby? Holy cow. The volume was cranked and the potty jokes were rolling. I was thankful I only had to listen to them for an hour. (I used to think I would have made a great Elementary school teacher. This hour alone changed my mind on that. Ok...I'm mostly kidding. Mostly.)

This would all make a lot more sense to you if you've read the book, but nevertheless, Scrambled Snake cupcakes for the first party (made by Judie. That's a recurring theme here.) She and I did all the signs together.We got the fonts from picmonkey.com and then just copied and pasted everything in Microsoft Publisher and printed on cardstock. Email me if you want my ridiculous, figure-it-out-as-I-go-along step-by-step instructions. Or don't. 

 A bowl of poisonous warts on the left:

 Applesauce with granola on top for Gruffalo Crumble (similar idea here):

We kept it nice and simple for the first party. The Owl Ice Cream supplies were on the left. Birch tree background painted on brown kraft paper by Judie. Scrapbook paper bunting is my favorite party decoration. Super easy and so fun to customize for whatever the theme. Throw in some logs from our log pile and a little moss for the finishing touch:

By the look on Bennett's face, you'd think this was a Rolex watch. Nope. A spinbrush. Score.

The thought of running organized games at a party makes me want to cry for some reason. So we stuck with craft time instead. Surprisingly, they got really in to the Gruffalo puppet making. (Phew...that was a risky choice with this bunch.)

"His eyes are orange, his tongue is black, he's got purple prickles all over his back..."

 Crazytown.

For the second party, we switched out the cupcakes for this adorable tree log cake (again, made by Judie): 

We did dinner for the family party. In true British fashion, sausage rolls became our Scrambled Snake (idea from here):

We kept it super simple with hot dogs and potato chips and carrots and dip. I just did not have much prep time at all for this party (we were out of town the week before) and even though I always want to make homemade sides, time did not permit. I was very thankful I let it go and took the easy way out. It was a big weight lifted.

My adorable niece, Piper, showing off the Owl Ice Cream:

We didn't watch the movie at the second party so Nana read the story to this enraptured bunch. I always do story time at their parties. Again, its my copout so I don't have to plan any games. 

Aside from the candy (from here), it was a little difficult to come up with stuff for the goodie bags that fit the theme (at least that I could find at Target a couple days before...). So just go with it:

Again, goodie bag "labels" made with a combo of Picmonkey and Publisher, all just printed on cardstock and cut out and glued on:

My niece, Quinn:

A gigantic THANK-YOU to my mother-in-law, Judie, who put in so. much. work. for his party this year. She is such a blessing to me and never would I ever be able to pull off such cute parties without her!
For past parties I've done, start here.

summer storms, birthday disasters and other random happenings

This post is going to be a catch-all. The junk drawer, if you will. A compilation of several pictures over the last couple of months that have no other place to land but here. So here we go.

I'm not sure how I got these next two photos to happen but I absolutely adore them. I'm sure there was some bribing involved. There usually is if everyone is smiling at the camera. I know I'm their mom but I can't take the cuteness.

Bennett had been begging me to buy cherries for a while so I did. And then I took his picture because cherries are cute. He lost interest in them after a couple helpings. And turns out I'm allergic to them. Boo. (Along with raw apples, sugar snap peas, plums....so weird all of these adult allergies I keep gaining. Anyone else??) So we're over cherries.

One night, driving home from my in-law's, the clouds were the most breathtaking thing I'd ever seen in Iowa. I put the boys to bed when I got home and I kept running out of the house to snap more photos as the sun was setting. This was the sky from every angle. I am sort of obsessed with sky- the moon, clouds, sunsets, all of it. It just never ceases to amaze  me. I'm thankful that even in the most un-scenic flatlands of Iowa, we still get to enjoy jaw-dropping beauty from our creator in the sky. (P.S. I just realized the East and South are mixed up. But I'm up too late and not going to go back and edit. Just had to point that out before my husband did ;)

Of course the boys weren't staying in bed and followed me outside. I promise you I did not tell them to reach their hands longingly toward the heavens. That dynamite pose was all them. You're welcome. I should slap some Bible verse on there and it could make big bucks in the art department of a Christian bookstore.

 I also didn't tell them to hug. Goodness gracious, they can be so sweet.

And then Bennett went ahead and turned six on me. Serious heartbreaker, that one. In my mind, that's the official "kid" age. We've left all the adorable baby, preschooler and kindergartner ages behind and now he's just a kid. A wild and crazy kid who thinks potty humor is the most compelling dinner conversation and who now officially has a "crush" on a girl. I remember walking past the big boy clothing department in Von Maur a few years ago. It made me so sad and I thought to myself, "I don't ever want to have a boy who fits into those clothes". Welp, like it or not we have outgrown every size that Baby Gap carries. We were hanging on by a thread with their shoes but no more. Big boy department for life. (I'm not ever actually going to have a son that shops in the men's department, am I? Please don't tell me that's actually going to happen.) 

Birthday week started out with the anticipated trip to the grocery store for the cereal of his choice. I love this tradition since it just stretches the whole celebration out longer. 

His actual birthday was on Thursday. I had visions of last year's perfect day in my mind. I love to do stuff to make that day feel special, since his party wasn't until Saturday. Well, real life intervened and it ended up being a total bomb. It started the night before when I was up til 2am. (Dawson had a horrible cough and couldn't sleep until I finally drugged him up out of sleep-deprived desperation.) I let the boys watch TV that morning so I could sleep in a little bit. I was already behind on sleep and knew I couldn't function on 5 hours (I know...I'm a wuss about my sleep.) So at 9am I came down to this: 

Dawson threw half a bag of Craisins around the room (birthday confetti??) and dumped the remains of Bennett's cereal bowl on the table and rubbed that around for good measure. (me: "Why did you have your bowl of cereal in the living room???" Bennett: "Because it's my birthday and I wanted to eat it on the couch!" me: .... Whatever.) Oh, and Dawson ate about a dozen hershey kisses and half a container of that store bought cotton candy. Why the H - E - double hockey sticks we still had that in our pantry is beyond me.

So literally our entire morning was spent cleaning that up. I suppose I could have quickly cleaned the entire mess up myself and just marked another tally in the "parenting fail" category (what's one more, really??) but in the moment I thought it was more important to have Dawson clean up the mess he made. And if you've never had a strong-willed child, then you probably won't be able to fathom the fun that was.

My mother-in-law had agreed to come watch the little ones while I took Bennett out for something fun, just the two of us. We got off to a late start and only had a couple hours. He really wanted pizza and I was wracking my brain to come up with a fun activity to do together and decided to take him to an arcade. Well, I drove out to my favorite pizza place near our huge mall and it was out of business. I drove him to a restaurant nearby and tried to talk him into something different but he insisted on pizza. Ok, Plan C....mall food court. At least I can eat Chick-fil-A. He got a meal deal with mac & cheese on the side and blue Gatorade. I gritted my teeth and said, "sure! Eat all the crap you want! Its your birthday!". (I didn't really say that.) He was thrilled :) Side note, Bennett's had a dairy allergy for a long time (used to give him terrible eczema and now usually gives him diarrhea if he has too much at once). I let him splurge occasionally and we just go with the flow. Sorry. That was gross.

So we hit the arcade after lunch. Genius mom didn't think about the fact that you need cash for an arcade. I had none. I also don't know the pin number to my debit card. We had to drive all the way to the nearest Target and make a purchase so I could take cash out.

Then back to the arcade we went, with about 15 minutes left to spare. The first game we tried was a two player game but one of the guns wasn't working. Bennett was yelling at me to shoot something and I was trying to tell him my gun wasn't working and then the machine was asking for more money and I put more in and then Bennett was yelling at me again and crying and I was trying to calm him down and it was madness. First born son is a bit competitive and was NOT happy he couldn't shoot the skeleton in the pirate ship. So 30 seconds and $2 later, we moved on to a couple more games. Well, Bennett was already so upset, I'm pretty sure those other two games ended in tears too. I'm not sure what he expected but it wasn't THAT. So in order to rectify a disastrous birthday date, we ran to Cold Stone for ice cream, asked a random teenage girl to take our picture and then sped home to relieve Judie. We should have just gone mini golfing. I could have at least let him beat me.

That night before bed he threw up. Happy, birthday, son. Your mom tried. 

We made up for it the next day. Jon took the day off work, Nana had the little boys and we went to our local amusement park, just the three of us. There were no tears and no barfing, so it was a success. 

Bennett rode his very first upside-down roller coaster! My heart swelled with pride :) I'm a roller coaster junkie but didn't even do an upside-down one til I was 11 or 12!

 This looks like more fun than it actually was:  
 Doing some kind of jig over the bridge:

 Free arcade games that didn't involve skeletons in pirate ships:

 Boys and their guns. Seriously serious business:

And that's a wrap. Party post coming soon.

TN/FL

Sorry for my absence around here lately. When the blog is quiet, that usually means life is loud. And boy has it ever been. I really wanted to get a post in before we left on a week long trip last week but that didn't happen. Jon was out of town the two days before we left so...yeah. Things were a bit stressful leading up to it. We got back this past Thursday night and then I left Friday afternoon for a quick girl's night away with a couple good friends. (Somehow I managed to get a vacation after the vacation. Lucked out with that one.) So anyway, I'm just way behind on life right now. You should see my house. Its ugly. And it makes me want to cry. And we have a birthday party this weekend. I'm going to change the subject now. 

We left Channing with my parents in Memphis and took the big boys to Orlando. We had a free 3 night stay in a pretty nice resort and since my uncle works at Disney and gets us in free (I know, I know. Don't hate.), it was a relatively cheap vacay. And holy cow....it was SOOO nice traveling with just the two of them. I started a 640 page book after we left Channing (I can't read anything of substance when he's in the car) and finished the entire thing before we were home. It was like this giant sigh of relief, like, ok, life is going to get easier again in about two more years. I'm just going to say it. Traveling with a one year old just kinda sucks. My kids somehow defy the laws of universe and do not sleep in the car. Channing literally had one 20 minute nap on the 10 hour drive home. The only reason he slept a little more than that on the way down was because of a raging fever. I literally made Jon stop the car and trade places with me at one point because I was LOSING MY MIND. It was pretty horrible. But I love to travel and am willing to take the bad with the good. And duh, who can pass up free Disney??

We skipped out on Magic Kingdom this time and just did the other three parks. These next two pictures were after a ride in Epcot called Test Track and it was basically a giant photo booth set up (sponsored by Chevrolet, obvs) and we had a ton of fun with it. It made the hour and a half wait with an exhausted 3 year old *almost* bearable.

So back to traveling with just the big boys, I think we were just so darn giddy about how free we felt, not weighed down by a stroller and diaper bag and fill-in-the-blank with ten more things, we didn't even want to lug our fancy camera around. So honestly, this is kind of a pitiful post with only pictures from my sad not-an-iPhone camera. I only picked up my nice camera twice the entire time. I'm only a little sorry about it.
We drove to Clearwater beach on Memorial Day. We figured that was the better option than doing Disney that day. It was a toss-up. Let's just say we had a much better time the last time we were on that beach. But hey, better there than stuck in the Midwest during the week long deluge they were getting. I will take a crowded beach over wet and cold and dreary any day. Unless we had our one year old at the beach... Ok, moving on.

Oh, and side note. Have you ever been to Sweet Tomatoes?? Oh. My. Word. That was my absolute favorite casual dining experience I've ever had. An unlimited buffet but with healthy, made from scratch food?? I died. And Jon laughed at me because he doesn't care about food. A sad sad life to live. 

1. early morning quiet on our screened in porch 2. undivided daddy time 3. Lambert's "throwed rolls" Cafe in Missouri. Such a strange and hilarious experience. 4. our cute chauffeur who drove all 44+ hours (minus 45 min. when I lost my mind and made him trade)

Reunited with my babe when we got back to Tennessee. He was such a good boy while we were gone and spent a lot of time in their pool:

We stayed two nights there to break up the trip on the way home and to have extra time with my parents. We took the boys to the zoo since Jon hadn't been to that one yet. It was hot and fun.

He had a blast. Just took him a lot longer than Bennett to get over the fact that all the other kid's parents knew to pack their bathing suits. The fun eventually outweighed his humiliation. 

And I don't know why but I just love this next picture :) 

And here are the two times I grabbed my real camera. By the time I got it out and took the picture, his nap was over ;)

We stopped in Atlanta on the way home from Orlando and met up with Jon's best friend for lunch. We stumbled upon this gorgeous park in the city. It was the perfect spot for the boys to run around for an hour (and terrorize the local geese). I just couldn't stop saying how gorgeous it was. The trees!

Such a fun trip for all of us. I'm beyond thankful for the opportunities we have for travel and adventure. And we can't bear to put it off for a few more years when it'll be much easier. Its worth it now, to endure a few hours of torture in the van ;) Call me crazy. I'm strongly considering some children's Benedryl for our next trip though...

mom's day

Speaking of expectations vs. reality, Mother's Day was yesterday!! ;)
Again, I have a hard time keeping my expectations low on this day. I was reminding myself of this post all weekend long (particularly when I was up before 7am on both mornings). I have a long way to go until it sinks in and permeates my thoughts and actions. A work in progress, but at least He's working!!

I requested demanded a pic with my kiddos and I'm thankful we got a couple of good ones. Love Channing's lip in the first one :)

2012!: 

*******

The picture Bennett drew on his card for me that nearly brought tears to my eyes since there were definitely angels in that room that day (he didn't breathe for nearly 2 minutes when he was born):

My brain's in a total fog due to lack of sleep and the fact that I've been trying to get this child to stay in bed for the past hour and 20 minutes. I should stare at this picture for a while longer before I go back in there ;)

Truly, I am blessed.

Expectations vs. Reality

My dad always reminds us, particularly in our role as wives, to keep our expectations low. I try. Really, I do. But there are some things that I just can't help but get my hopes up sky high about. I have been so excited for Bennett's first soccer game. We've chosen to not put him in any sports up until this point (other than lots of tumbling classes and gymnastics last summer) because that's never been his passion or forte. I wanted it to be something he expressed interest in and not something we pushed on him because all his friends were doing it. We knew he was ready and he's a scrappy kid and fast runner so soccer seemed like a logical place to start. 

These are the moments you picture way before you even have kids. You picture yourself rocking your newborn baby to sleep, singing a lullaby. You picture reading books to your toddler and sending your child off to school for the first time. You picture sitting on the sidelines of a sporting event and cheering them on. You picture them scoring the winning goal and jumping out of your seats in excitement. 

[ #6 ]

You don't picture 20mph winds, trying to wrangle your 3 & 1yr old alone while your husband's off coaching a team he doesn't want to coach, your almost 6 yr old son pouting on the sidelines because he didn't get a turn or trying to reason with your delirious, temper-throwing 3 year old who just wants to play too. Oy vey. It was a hot mess. Despite that, I'm so happy with these pictures and someday I should just delete this blog entry and we'll forget all about it and think it was just the picture perfect day from our imaginations ;) 

Jon and Bennett all smiles (for the moment):

We signed up with i9 sports which seems like a fantastic program. Each week a kid from the team gets awarded with a free pizza for displaying one of the characteristics of good sportsmanship they focus on for the week. Also, the practices and games are back to back so just one hour per week. The bad part is, each individual team is run by two parent volunteers, with the overseers and refs provided by i9.  No one was coming forward to volunteer for Bennett's team so Jon did at the last minute. We honestly had no clue that he was going to be the coach for the entire practice and game. It just wasn't at all what we expected. There's another dad who's volunteering but he didn't show up until the practice was over and the game was already started. Jon has many talents and gifts. Coaching or teaching just isn't one of them. He did the best he could but he was seriously stressed out and Bennett would have responded much better to a coach who wasn't his dad. It was sorta horrible.
Bennett spent a lot of the warm-ups like this:

I thought Dawson would be totally fine just running around in the grass while Bennett played. He was not. He doesn't do well in brand new situations around strangers and he was so mad he couldn't play. He was just plain out of it. He sorta glazes over and acts like a crazy person, to put it mildly. Bennett got mad when he didn't get a turn he thought he deserved and refused to go back in for the last half of the game. Like I said, he would do much better with a coach that's not his dad. A little frustrating when you're paying a lot of money for the season!
Despite the mess, I am in love with this picture:

Next week we will all know what to expect and hopefully handle all of it with a lot more dignity and grace! 

from selfish to selfless

So, since I wrote this post, God's been opening my eyes and teaching me a lot.** And I think, perhaps, some of it may encourage you too, if you're in the thick of your mothering years. I don't often get a clear and direct message from God. Christianity isn't always about some holy golden light shining down onto your open Bible, highlighting the exact verse you need in any given moment. But, the cool thing is, sometimes it is. (Ok, there wasn't any light. But there may as well have been.)
I've mentioned the Jesus Calling devotional on here before. If you don't have a daily devotional and are like me, wondering what in the heck you're supposed to read in your daily "quiet time", or don't even have a daily quiet time because of that very reason, get it. It's quick and easy and soooo encouraging and applicable. I blogged about my complete lack of energy and time and my sometimes lack of patience on April 29th. On April 30th, my devotional said this:

When some basic need is lacking--time, energy, money--consider yourself blessed. Your very lack is an opportunity to latch onto Me in unashamed dependence. When you begin a day with inadequate resources, you must concentrate your efforts on the present moment. ... Awareness of your inadequacy is a rich blessing, training you to rely wholeheartedly on Me. ... Rejoice in your insufficiency, knowing that My Power is made perfect in weakness.

Woah. Did you see the golden light? Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Later that day I got an email from a wise old friend of mine (just kidding, she's not old. Just has wisdom beyond her years). These are her powerful words that she gave me permission to share:

I've been thinking a lot about this season. I'm trying to figure out how to adapt to a sacrificial lifestyle, and forgo my hopes for leisure. That's my problem, I'm constantly looking for a break when I really need to be dying to self.  This is my JOB. This is my calling, ministry, everything.  I must somehow find ease and enjoyment WHILE ministering to my kids/husband, and without being a martyr. And in the times that it is neither easy or enjoyable, find rest IN him. Matt 11:28 I'm still trying to figure out what exactly that looks like. Sometimes I pray for strength and I get it, and sometimes I don't feel like I get it. But I do have to get myself in a good thought pattern.  Like reminding myself of what I do and do not deserve. Which leads to me thinking about the Gospel, and that's always a good thing to dwell on.  

She set me a link to a great article (it's lengthy but worth a read if you're struggling with the whole dying to self thing). Here's a little snippet of it that resonated with me:

Giving up what you cannot keep does not mean giving up your home, or your job so you can go serve somewhere else. It is giving up yourself. Lay yourself down. Sacrifice yourself here, now. Cheerfully wipe the nose for the fiftieth time today. Make dinner again for the people who don’t like the green beans. Laugh when your plans are thwarted by a vomiting child. Lay yourself down for the people here with you, the people who annoy you, the people who get in your way, the people who take up so much of your time that you can’t read anymore. Rejoice in them. Sacrifice for them. Gain that which you cannot lose in them.

I suck at this. I'm grumbling in my head when I have to leave my seat at dinner for the fourth time while my food continues to get colder and colder to get something for one of my children. I want to cry when they wake me up at 6am. But the first step in changing something is becoming aware of it in your life. I love that God is bringing all this to the forefront of my mind. This journey is a long one. But we don't have to worry about the end. We just have to worry about the here and now and looking to Him in every moment of weakness. I'm so humbled that He calls me His child. I don't deserve an ounce of His love. But thank goodness it has nothing to do with deserving or not deserving it. He laid down His life for me. I want to show this selfless love to my kids. Its not hard to love them. But it is hard to love wiping the food I cooked off of the floor where my baby rejected it and spending an hour at night of "my" time putting them back in bed. I make sacrifices all day long for them. I pray that eventually I won't feel an ounce of drudgery or resentment in those sacrifices. I pray that one day I will feel joy in each of those sacrifices. And that God would take all of this and use it for His glory.

I mean, look at these faces. You'd think it wouldn't be so hard to wait on these munchkins hand and foot ;)

Side note: If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that Dawson pretty much wears costumes everywhere these days (besides school or church. I'm not that cool of a mom.) He wore this Max suit last week on the hottest day we've had so far. He asked to sleep in it. Sure kid, whatever will speed up this bedtime routine. Well, the next morning around 9:30am, I'm giving him his eggs and notice that his hands are huge. They were swollen about twice their normal size because the elastic at the wrists was cutting off his circulation!! Seriously...I felt terrible. They didn't go back down to normal until late that night. The next time he wanted to wear it, I cut the elastic out. Sheesh. Who knew wearing costumes can be hazardous to your health?

**(I often hesitate to share spiritual things I've been learning on this blog because I don't always feel that the internet is the place for it. It can be misconstrued, taken the wrong way and frankly, in real life we don't just go around spouting off what God has done in our hearts without any sort of prompting from the person we're talking to. The things that are convicting to one person aren't going to be convicting for everyone. We use our common sense (and nudges from the Holy Spirit) to share what needs to be shared with people. But I have felt compelled to share this over the last couple weeks and I'm going to go with my heart. I'm sure there are a lot of other mommas out there that need this in this moment.)